They cage the animals at night
And once again when sun is bright
In cages gray and bleak and tight
Until the strong have lost their might
Until the free have lost their fight
Until sharp eyes have gone to white
Oh to be free like soaring kite
To fly away to heavens height
But steel bars block futile flight
And nature weeps at such a sight
While man continues with his blight
Yet feigns blind eye to their sad plight
And will not dare to see the light
That a caged life is never right.

The night exposes our deepest fears,
Examines all our weaknesses,
Turns us inside out,
And opens our eyes…
To the monster within, each of us…

Then with the dawn
We wake from our nightmare.
We live life blinded by the light,
Uninformed of what truly lies within us.

Our sight strays from who we are,
To who we wish we could be.
Glued to the TV screen
And entertainment magazines,
“Mommy I wanna be famous when I grow up!”

What are we teaching our young?
To get laid by age sixteen,
Just to get on that silver screen?
To sell who they are,
Just to be accepted?

Why do we fear if our son is gay?
Even if he’s truly happy that way…
Why do we push our girls to fit in?
When we know they have better friends somewhere else…

The night brings to attention,
The fact that life isn’t all sunshine and daisies.
Because through failure,
Hopefully comes learning experience.

Is that what you fear,
Your child will hurt,
Regardless of what you do,
They will feel pain,
Just as you and I do.

All you can do,
Is support their choices,
Back them when no one else will.
Cause you can’t hold their hand forever.

I’ve had my fair share of ******* things up…
And came out on the other side,
All in one piece and better for it.

I embrace the night,
I allow my thoughts to wander,
In both the light and the dark.
Balance is everything here,
So let loose of insecurity
And don’t be afraid of life…

We lay together lost in fantasy
Restless gazing upon different ceilings
Giggling in the remembrance of word plays through long days
Where we still manage to provoke smiles in the midst of our dull lonely ways
Your voice vibrates through a long distanced line
that we both dream of crossing some time
And though time may be a troubling thing
we push on with love and curiosity
Your voice rings sweet melodies to my imaginative tendencies
**** this longing
It's time you cross over and claim your belongings

The closest I have been to
happiness was that one evening
watching The Shining with
you; when there was a snowstorm
outside and our parents were
having dinner together and you
promised to cook for me (your
cooking was awful, by the way)
and we talked and turned off all
the lights, turned on the television
and made fun of the wallpaper
in the hotel. We watched Mathilda
after that, which, to be honest, was
much more frightening, and I think
you put your arm around me; I
pretended not to notice, because I
thought it might not mean anything;
your mother came home too soon and
we said goodbye. I promised to cook
for you, some day, and never did, then
you moved to the other side of the country
and fell in love with someone else and I
stayed here, and I dated other people and
never really got you out of my head.

Now I am over you, and have been for
a while, but even though we never were
together all of my best memories include
you; and it leaves me empty-hearted
and wondering if I'll ever learn to love
eating terrible salmon and watching
a terrible film with someone else.